Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Crescent Grove Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Crescent Grove Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Microsoft by 4.6% during the first quarter, now holding shares valued at approximately $5.1 million.
• Insider transactions revealed that Microsoft executives sold significant amounts of stock, with EVP Kathleen T. Hogan selling 21,500 shares for about $9.76 million.
• Microsoft's quarterly earnings report exceeded expectations, with a reported $3.65 EPS and revenues rising by 18.1% year-over-year.

Crescent Grove Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,575 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 650 shares during the quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,096,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,496,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant's stock worth $133,023,000 after purchasing an additional 18,052 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,268 shares during the last quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 147.9% in the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant's stock worth $737,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043 shares during the period. Finally, Intellus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $16,075,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $609.86.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,743 shares of company stock valued at $24,921,913 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $1.20 on Friday, reaching $522.04. The company had a trading volume of 15,514,819 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,782,852. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.88 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.27, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $496.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $438.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.